Kohl’s Party Suffers Setback in State Elections

The ruling Christian Democratic party suffered a setback Sunday in the popular vote but won enough support to maintain its parliamentary majority in the state elections in Baden-Wuerttemberg that included a surprise showing by far-right parties.

The results were seen as a setback to the national ruling coalition in Bonn of Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s Christian Democrats and its junior partner, the Free Democratic Party, whose liaison has been marked by acrimony.

The Christian Democrats on Sunday lost their absolute majority of the popular vote, falling from 51.9 % four years ago to 49.1%, but won 66 of the state Parliament’s 125 seats, according to late projections in Stuttgart, the state capital.

In Sunday’s vote, the Free Democrats polled a projected 5.9% of the total--down 1.3% from their 1984 result.

The major opposition party, the Social Democrats, slipped slightly to 32% but gained an extra seat in the Parliament.

The radical, ecological Greens party also declined slightly to 7.9%, but it, too, added a seat to the nine it had held.

The only popular vote increases were registered by small splinter parties, including 3.1% of the vote polled between them by two extremist parties of the right, the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party and the Republican Party. That was not enough for the right-wing parties to gain parliamentary representation, which requires a minimum of 5% of the votes under the state’s rules of proportional representation.

But candidate Dieter Spoeri of the Social Democratic Party saw the growth in the right-wing vote as “worrying.”

“This . . . is a challenge to West German democracy,” Spoeri said.

Baden-Wuerttemberg, in the southwest corner of West Germany, encompasses the rural fastness of the Black Forest and modern high-tech centers in what represents one of the country’s industrial success stories.

Credit Goes to Premier

Its effectiveness in attracting industry has been credited in part to state Premier Lothar Spaeth, and his leadership was credited Sunday with holding the Christian Democrats’ parliamentary majority in the face of local dissatisfaction with the federal government.

Baden-Wuerttemberg retains a strong rural vote, and farmers have not been satisfied with government curbs on subsidies, in part dictated by Bonn’s membership in the European Communities.

Many farmers are believed to have voted for the extremist parties as a form of protest.

Spaeth said he was happy with the result that strengthened his standing nationally and allowed him to govern for another four years without having to seek a coalition with another party.

“I am sure my success in a very difficult situation will be noted,” he said, referring to the national leaders in Bonn.

The Christian Democrats have seen their vote drop in five of the six state elections since Kohl’s victory in the national campaign of January, 1987.